Chapter 10
"Any new developments Alice?" Lucien asked the pathologist as he entered the morgue.
"Good morning to you too," she teased him before looking up from her microscope.
"Sorry, yes, I should have led with that," he admitted. Alice left her microscope and turned to face him.
"A good morning for Reginald. He's doing well considering what he went through yesterday," she said.
"Yes, he is, and I couldn't be more grateful. Though it does make me worry," Lucien frowned.
"What do you mean?" Alice asked.
"Well, whoever this is, they are very disorganized. Arnold's will is on record. So, the property was already taken care of – killing Arnold, doesn't help. This person wouldn't have known that until they stole the will from Arnold's house. Still, to poison him with arsenic, you'd have to be close to him. The next person in line for the property gets shot – our shooter, fully expecting that Reginald wouldn't have a will," Lucien said.
"That makes sense. Given his age and the fact that prior to Arnold's death, he would not have had any property to give to others," Alice figured.
"Right, but given that the police are already involved, the property would not change hands without a judge getting involved. A suspicious death would put everything on hold. If it was found out that the murderer would benefit, then the property would go to the state. Arnold's will did state that Reginald could not sell the property without the majority of the farmhands giving their approval – which doesn't help if Reginald is dead," the doctor explained.
"Are we looking at this wrong?" Alice wondered. Lucien gave her a look and she continued,
"Usually someone who poisons, does so because they want their victim to suffer or because they do not want the cause of death to be obvious. Let's not kid ourselves, poison doesn't leave a mess, and it doesn't leave fingerprints."
"True. Poison indicates patience. Yet someone lost their patience and hit Arnold with some sort of object, which killed him," he nodded.
"Still – who kills a man who was already dying?" Alice asked.
"Good point. Arnold's lawyer said that Arnold used to joke that he couldn't go hunting anymore because the rabbits would hear him coming. Anyone who had a cough like that, everyone else would know they are sick," Lucien admitted.
"Maybe what I have will help clear things up. I found Arnold's records. He was seeing the pulmonologist here, Doctor Damien Ashkin. Damien had sent a copy of Arnold's records to Melbourne for their opinion, citing that he didn't think it was a good idea that Arnold travel there," the pathologist explained.
"Smart. I doubt a train ride would have been a good idea. Going over bumpy roads in a car for almost two hours wouldn't have been good for him either," the doctor agreed with the assessment.
"Yes, well Melbourne confirmed Damien's suspicions. Arnold only had about three months left, if he was lucky. Surgery would have been difficult and could have killed him sooner," Alice said.
"Mary said it wasn't good, but I don't think she knew the time that Arnold had left would have been that short," Lucien was surprised by that number.
"Honestly, Damien was surprised that Arnold was doing as well as he was. He chalked it up to all the fresh air in the country and taking it easy. There was no amount of medicine that was going to help," she told him.
"Did Damien know about the arsenic?" Lucien wanted to know.
"No, but I think I know why. Come look at this," Alice brought him to Arnold's body. She pointed to Arnold's feet. Lucien looked at the skin and noticed that a sample had been taken from the skin. He also noticed something else. Without her even saying it, Lucien moved to the microscope.
"Hyperkeratosis – thickening of the skin," he said.
"Exactly so. I was reexamining the body because the poisoning was bothering me. I noticed that the skin seemed thickened on his hands. Being a farmer, that isn't too surprising, so I checked his feet. This man would have worn shoes almost his entire life. The skin on his feet shouldn't be so thick. I went to his fingernails. He's got light colored bands on them. They weren't very visible before due to the blood loss and the paleness of his skin, but I stuck a nail file under one of his nails to create a contrasted background and then you could see them," Alice showed him the one nail.
"Unusual but well done. He wasn't poisoned in large amounts. It was done slowly, so slowly that he might not have even noticed. Alice, the arsenic could have caused his cancer," Lucien said.
"That could mean he was being poisoned over years. It would explain why his liver and spleen were enlarged. I assumed it was because of cancer. I wasn't thinking that it could be because of the arsenic," she admitted.
"The enlargement of the liver can mean so many things. Whoever was doing this had a hatred of Arnold. They were poisoning him. You are right. We were looking at this wrong. There are two killers. Worse still, there may be more deaths. We need to check all of the farmhands. Someone could be trying to make them all sick," Lucien told her.
"Contamination of the groundwater from agriculture," Alice's eyes went wide.
"Bloody hell. Rush upstairs and check Reginald and Mary. I'll call Matthew. We have to get out to the farm. We're going to need a lot of Dimercaptosuccinic acid, if I'm right," he told her as he went for the phone. Lucien didn't want to admit that the acid was their only shot to help their possible patients. While it could not undo the damage done, it would remove the arsenic from their systems. Alice quickly left the room and rushed upstairs. She was going to need blood samples from both Mary and Reginald.
"Matthew we've got a situation," Lucien said.
"Is it Reginald?" The Chief Superintendent asked.
"It could be all of the farmhands. We need to get out there with vehicles to transport everyone to the hospital. They all need to be tested for arsenic poisoning. We need to check all of the water at the farm to find the source," Lucien explained.
"Do we need to be worried about ourselves? My men and Rose were out at the farm," Matthew said.
"No. Short term exposure at small amounts won't have much of an effect," the doctor reassured him.
"Good. I'll round up the team and we'll swing by the hospital to pick you up," Matthew promised.
To Be Continued…